There are scores of workshops being across the nine-day Mumbai festival, ranging from quilling to 3D doodling, sari draping to food photography

A participant showcases what she made using a 3D doodler pen at a workshop at Kala Ghoda on Monday.(Supreet Sapkal/HT)

If you don’t spend the day learning something new, you will definitely learn a new way of doing something otherwise mundane, at the workshops being held as part of the Hindustan Times Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

There are scores of workshops being across the nine-day festival, ranging from quilling to 3D doodling, sari draping to food photography, at venues such as the Artisan’s gallery and Somaiya Centre.

“Travel writing and photography are among the most popular workshops,” said Tripti Ayyar, co-curator of the section along with Ami Patil. “Last year, almost 200 people queued up for the travel writing workshop. This year’s offerings are even more varied and quirky.”

Vijaylakshmi Devlapurkar, 67, makes it a point to come to Kala Ghoda every year from Auroville in Pondicherry. For her, the main attraction is the workshops. While making a necklace with leftover fabric at the Weave My Colours jewellery-making session conducted by Malavika Andrews, Devlapurkar said, “We are all artists within and it usually takes a workshop or two to find what you are really good at, so I make it a point to attend as many as I can!”

There was no talking at the 3D-doodling workshop, just mouths agape and collective gasps as Girish Nair literally drew things out of thin air.

“Anyone can make a 3D artwork,” said the doodler from the Curiosity Gym makerspace at Fort. “All you need is a 3D doodle pen, plastic filaments and lots of imagination.”

As with all art, a 3D doodle can mean different things to different people. At one such session, Nair told his audience, a neurosurgeon drew a head with inter-connecting lines.

“When I asked him what he was making, he replied that he was drawing the human head to explain to his patients how CT scans work. I thought that was brilliant,” Nair said.

Artist Deepali Sampat, 37, really got into the spirit of things and drew a 3D horse. “I didn’t expect it to turn out near-perfect,” she said, laughing. “This is really addictive because the finished product turns out exactly how you conceptualised it. I’m definitely going to dabble in this art form now.”